1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for inhibiting the polymerization of (meth)acrylic acid monomers and (meth)acrylate monomers (referred to as (meth)acrylic acid and esters thereof hereinafter) that will otherwise take place during their production.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well-known that (meth)acrylic acid and esters thereof have a strong tendency to spontaneous polymerization by light or heat. Hence, it is common practice to add one inhibitor or more in combination to inhibit polymerization during their storage.
An example of the inhibitors which have so far been tried is N-oxyl compounds, such as di-tert-butyl nitroxide and 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-4-hydroxypiperidinooxyl(2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-4-hydroxyp iperidine-1-oxyl), as disclosed in British Patent No. 1,127,127. According to the disclosure, they are more effective than known inhibitors such as hydroquinone, phenothiazine, and cupric chloride, when they are used alone. The N-oxyl compound is also used as an inhibitor in the production of methacrylic acid from methacrolein by the aid of an oxygen-containing gas in an organic solvent. It includes 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-4-hydroxypiperidinooxyl and 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidinooxyl as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,127,603. It also includes 2,2,5,5-tetramethyl-3-oxopyrrolidinooxyl and 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-4-acetoxypiperidinooxyl as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 46496/1983. In addition, it is shown in Chinese Patent No. 1,052,847A that 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-4-hydroxypiperidinooxyl effectively inhibits the polymerization of acrylic acid and acrylate when used alone or in combination with hydroquinone and that this (or those) inhibitor(s) is (are) more effective than copper dibutyldithiocarbamate and hydroquinone used in combination.
Contrary to the foregoing, the present inventors found that the N-oxyl compound used alone or in combination with hydroquinone does not work satisfactorily under specific conditions. In other words, the above-mentioned inhibitor used in an ordinary amount does not work in the production of (meth)acrylic acid by catalytic gas phase reaction, because polymerization of (meth)acrylic acid easily occurs while it is separated by azeotropic distillation from its aqueous solution containing acetic acid and aldehydes. Thus, there was a problem of the formation of popcorn polymers and sticky polymers in the distillation column during distillation, which prevents the continuous operation of the plant for a long period of time. Since large amount of inhibitor was required to obtain effective inhibition, they didn't adapt for practical use.